Major League Baseball
NY Yankees 8, Toronto 6
When: 7:05 PM ET, Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Temperature: 59°
Umpires: Home - Bill Welke, 1B - Bruce Dreckman, 2B - Chad Whitson, 3B - Mike Everitt
Attendance: 35559

NEW YORK -- The home run seemed routine, but the two-strike hit is what caused the New York Yankees to continue to be impressed with Aaron Judge.

It also helped New York get its latest win.

Judge hit his major league-leading 13th home run and also sparked a seventh-inning rally with a base hit as the Yankees rallied from an early four-run deficit and recorded an 8-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

"I feel like I'm swinging at good pitches and putting myself in good situations," Judge said.

Judge capped an 11-for-21 homestand by getting his first career three-hit game, doing so after getting named American League Rookie of the Month. He homered on a 2-0 fastball against Marcus Stroman in the third but fought back from a 1-2 count against Joe Biagini (0-1), who struck out the previous five hitters.

"He's obviously seeing the ball pretty well right now," Yankees third baseman Chase Headley said. "When you're feeling that way at the plate, you're confident. Everything's slow but it's impressive. He's got a big strike zone, a big strike zone and to be able to cover that and layoff some tough pitches and foul pitches off, it's been impressive."

It was the second straight game Judge fought back from an unfavorable count. On Tuesday, he capped a 10-pitch at-bat against Jason Grilli with a three-run homer on a full count.

"First pitch of my at-bat, 10th pitch of my at-bat it doesn't matter," Judge said.

"It gets you going," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "He's done that a lot this year. He's put really good at-bats on pitchers and really good pitchers. You look at what he's done. He just continues to impress us."

Shortly after Judge's single to left, the Yankees were on the move. Headley's double advanced him to third and Judge scored the tying run on Chris Carter's bloop broken-bat single over shortstop Ryan Goins' head when Toronto brought the infield in.

The Yankees took their first lead on pinch hitter Didi Gregorius' ground ball single that went off Biagini's glove. Following a brief review to uphold the safe call, the Yankees scored their final run on a bases-loaded walk by Aaron Hicks.

New York won for the 16th time in 21 games and its fifth when trailing by at least three runs.

Girardi was ejected by plate umpire Bill Welke after contesting a strike one call to Starlin Castro and was quickly tossed after coming out of the dugout.

Afterward, Girardi said there were about four called strikes in the sixth inning he did not agree with.

The Yankees faced a 4-0 deficit when Justin Smoak had an RBI single and Steve Pearce hit a three-run homer off CC Sabathia. The Blue Jays took a 6-3 lead in the second on a bases-loaded walk by Russell Martin and a groundout by Kendrys Morales.

Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer in the first inning, becoming the 142nd player to reach 300 home runs.

After Sabathia allowed six runs and seven hits in four-plus innings, four relievers combined on five scoreless frames. Dellin Betances (3-1) easily recorded four outs for the win and Aroldis Chapman recorded his sixth save.

Stroman allowed five runs and six hits in three innings. After the game, manager John Gibbons said he had some tightness in his arm.

"We just got to the point where we thought it was smart to get him out of there," Gibbons said.

Stroman allowed five runs for the second time this season and matched his shortest start by going three innings for the third time in his career.

"I just had trouble getting loose today," Stroman said. "It's not something I'm worried about."

NOTES: C Gary Sanchez (biceps) went 1-for-4 in his second rehab game with Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes/Barre. He will be revaluated after his third rehab game Thursday and could be activated Friday. ... Toronto RHP Mat Latos was away from the team because of a personal matter. He is expected to make his next scheduled start Sunday in Tampa Bay. ... New York C Austin Romine (groin) and CF Jacoby Ellsbury (left elbow) did not play, though both are feeling better. ... The Blue Jays released C Jarrod Saltalamacchia after designating him for assignment Friday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Toronto   NY Yankees
Marcus Stroman Player CC Sabathia
No Decision W/L No Decision
3.0 IP 4.0
2 Strikeouts 5
6 Hits 7
15.00 ERA 13.50
Hitting
Toronto   NY Yankees
Darwin Barney Player Aaron Judge
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 2
0 HR 1
3 TB 6
.667 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Toronto 8 1 12 .242 22 11 6 5 0 0
NY Yankees 12 2 19 .353 17 11 8 8 0 0